They exit now with Dallas-like failure. The Spurs can’t escape the infamy that comes when a No. 1 seed loses to a No. 8.

“Most would probably think that,” Popovich conceded late Friday night, “but they don’t understand the West. All of us basically split with each other. We are all pretty darn close to each other.”

That might sound like spin, except Popovich has been saying something similar for months. He continued to dismiss his record even when the Spurs were on pace for nearly 70 wins, and this series defines everyone being “pretty darn close to each other.”

Three games were decided by late 3-pointers. And if Ginobili had been able to play in the opener, or if Parker had been a fraction of what he was Friday in that first game, then the Spurs might have won this series.

The Spurs also had a lead Friday with less than five minutes left. But that’s when Lionel Hollins called time, and Zach Randolph called for the ball.

Someday, when Randolph starts banging into various members of the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio will understand there was no disgrace in what happened.

But this was also Randolph, in his prime, bulling past Antonio McDyess and Duncan. It fit with the image of a fading franchise.

“The crumbling of the San Antonio Spurs’ dynasty is a jarring spectacle,” a Web columnist wrote last week before Game 5.

That surprised some. After all, not even Popovich has called this a dynasty.

The era may be crumbling, too, but there is no sign it’s going away. Popovich signed an extension last year, and three of the five starters are signed up until at least 2013.

One of them is Richard Jefferson, who is now as much an issue as he was a year ago. Finally benched Friday after just 10 minutes, Jefferson has no choice but to follow Popovich back to the gym for another summer of personal instruction.

The next lesson: the art of competing.

Duncan still competes, and he had a double-double and three blocks Friday. But he did this on 35-year-old legs that sometimes looked 45. That’s why some guess Duncan will retire if the lockout comes.

But the biggest annual salary of his career, about $21 million, is scheduled to come next season. If the lockout ends as the one did in 1999, in February, then maybe Duncan decides to play.

If there’s only a half season, well, that might appeal to his legs, too.

But that didn’t stop a few questions coming Friday night about this being the Spurs’ “last run” or whether an “overhaul” would be next.

“We just lost in the first round,” Popovich said. “I’m going to have some dinner and a Gatorade.”

He said the word “Gatorade” as if everyone understood he wouldn’t be having Gatorade.

He knows there’s time to rethink everything in the summer, to try to find players, or tweak others.

But change everything? When the core of the team is under contract? When they won 61 games in the regular season?